The
FA Cup run came to an end at Brighton's Amex stadium on Saturday but
the Sky Blues' young team did the club proud against their
Premiership opponents which included the impressive £14m record
signing Jurgen Locadia.
The
Amex attendance was reported as 26,966 which I think was quite
impressive for a stadium that only holds 30,750 and the modern trend
for attendances to be poor when Premiership sides entertain lower
division teams.
City's
following was reported as 4,529 but I believe there may have been a
couple of hundred in the Brighton areas and not included in that
figure. The Sky Blue Army's numbers were restricted by the allocation
from Brighton and without a cap I think we would have topped the
7,873 that travelled to Milton Keynes for round four.
Since
away fan numbers have been officially reported around 11 or 12 years
ago, these are the top City away followings (Wembley apart):
11,423
v Man United (League Cup) 2007-08
7,956
v Arsenal (League Cup) 2012-13
7,873
v MK Dons (FA Cup) 2017-18
6,781
v MK Dons 2013-14
5,604
v Birmingham (FA Cup) 2010-11
5,186
v Arsenal (FA Cup) 2013-14
5,021
v Tottenham (FA Cup) 2012-13
4,988
v MK Dons 2012-13
4,846
v Blackburn (FA Cup) 2008-09
4,529
v Brighton (FA Cup) 2017-18
You
have to admit they are impressive followings for a lower division
club.
Talking about
attendances I have to comment on the Accrington crowd figure two
weeks ago. The club reported the 'official' attendance as 28,343 but
most regulars realised there were nowhere near that number actually
in the ground. Most estimates put the actual crowd at more like
21,000. The reason for the higher number being reported is that all
EFL clubs (and Premiership clubs) have to
include
every season ticket holder whether in attendance or not and every
ticket issued. The club gave away around 14,000 tickets to local
schools for the game and all of these were included in the 'official'
attendance when my view is that only about 50% of them were taken up.
In
days gone by the official attendance was the number counted at the
turnstiles, plus an allowance based on dividing season ticket numbers
sold by the number of matches that season, but not (I believe)
"complimentaries". That was because the Football
League were entitled to a share of the gate receipts, and therefore
were more interested in the money than the number of spectators. In
my opinion the league rules are crazy, especially when it comes to
historic record-keeping, but the league have a poor record when it
comes to recognising history.
Talking
to other club historians I discovered that many Premiership clubs
have virtually identical attendances for every home game despite
there being numbers of empty seats and that the Manchester police
reckon that Old Trafford attendances are sometimes 10,000 less than
the 'official' attendance reported.
The
28,343 reported gate does set a new record for Tier 4 since the
league's reorganisation in 1992 but it's lower than the highest since
the 1958 reorganisation (when Division Four was formed) – that
record is 37,774 for Crystal Palace v Millwall in 1961. The gate was
also lower than City's tier 4 record, 28,429, set in 1958-59 for the
Division Four promotion six-pointer with Port Vale.
Next
Saturday's Legends Day is promising to be the biggest in terms of
former players attending with 53 Fps confirmed as I write this.
Several are attending for the first time including Micky Adams, Jim
Blyth, Nick Pickering and Andy Marshall, and Mo Konjic is attending
for the first time in many years. Seven decades of City players will
be represented on a day that is dedicated to Cyrille Regis. Cyrille's
widow Julia and a good number of his relatives are also attending as
well as several football personalities keen to pay their respects to
the big man. To see a full list of former players attending go to
www.ccfpa.co.uk
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